Dec 13 - Sell Your Possessions

Sell Your Possessions and Give to the Needy

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

by: Rob Stauffer

"Sell your possessions and give to the needy.  Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with treasure in heaven that does not fail, where no thief can break in and no moth can destroy.  For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also."  

Luke 12:  33-34

Wow!  This is a tough one.  Sell my stuff and give the money away?  I worked and saved a long time to just give it all away.  What does this really mean?

When I was a young boy, I remember reading a story by Aesop about some ants and a grasshopper.  It was late autumn and the ants were busy drying the grain that they had collected during the summer in preparation for the fast approaching winter.  Well, along comes a hungry grasshopper with a fiddle under his arm, and he begs the ants for a bite to eat.  The ants were astounded. "What? You haven't stored away anything for the winter?  What in the world were you doing last summer?"  The grasshopper whined,  "I didn't have time.  I was busy making music with my fiddle and before I knew it, the summer was gone."

The ants were disgusted.  "Making music were you?  Very well; now dance."  And they turned their backs on the grasshopper and went back to work.

My parents wanted my five siblings and me to know this story.  When they thought any one of us was slacking off on a job we knew had to be done, they would just say, "Get busy.  No fiddling around," and we knew just what they meant.

Later on I came across a verse or two in the Bible that said pretty much the same thing as Aesop was saying.  Proverbs 6 speaks to the lazy person.  "Go to the ant, you sluggard!  Consider her ways and be wise."  If you fail to work  "your poverty will come on you like a prowler."  In II Thessalonians 3, Paul tells the people:  "If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat."

The message here seems pretty clear to me.  Work hard!  Save as much as you can because hard times are coming and you need to be prepared.  Makes sense to me.  BUT, then I get to Luke chapter twelve.  What's this?

In Luke 12: 16-21, Jesus tells a parable of a rich farmer who just harvested a bumper crop and his barns aren't big enough to hold it.  So, he builds bigger barns.  Now he has enough stored up that he can basically retire early.  Eat, drink and be merry.  Sounds like the dream of every hardworking person.  But then there's a twist.  That night he dies because he was too selfish!  What about the ants?!?

In Luke 12: 22-29, Jesus tells His disciples not to worry about what they will eat or what they will wear.  Remember, these men gave up everything to follow Jesus.  It seems reasonable that they would be a little worried.  But Jesus tells them that God feeds the birds of the air who neither sow nor reap nor store away.  And, God also "clothes" the lilies more beautifully than Solomon even though they neither "toil nor spin."  " If God feeds the birds and clothes the flowers, surely He will feed and clothe you even more, so don't worry."

What's going on here?  Feed the birds?  Clothe the flowers?  Punish the successful farmer?  Maybe the grasshopper was right!  I should have retired earlier!

But let's look a little closer.  Verse 21 says the rich farmer was laying up "treasure for himself and was not rich toward God."  He was blind to the fact that all his riches came from God's hand.  Also, verses 31 & 32 say:  "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you."  And if we truly seek God's Kingdom, "it is your Father's good pleasure to give the Kingdom to you."

Okay.  This is starting to make sense.  True treasure is obviously not to be found among the things here on earth.  Our opening verses, 33-34, tell us that earthly treasures can be lost or wear out.  They can be stolen or decay.  Not so with treasures in heaven.  Everlasting life is forever.  Your salvation cannot be stolen.  God's grace and mercy know no end.

Long ago, on that first Christmas, God sent us Treasure from heaven.  Jesus Christ came to set us free from sin and to teach us what true treasure is and is not.  It's not clothes that wear out.  It's not vehicles that break down.  It's not a house that can burn down.  And, it's not money that can be stolen by inflation.

Treasure from Heaven is Christ Himself!!  The Son of God!  The Word of God!  Every possession we could possibly own on earth, great or small, pales in comparison to the gift that God the Father has given us.  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, the whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Jesus is God's gift to you--your Treasure.  Your heart is your gift in return.  And, "Where your treasure is, there will be your heart also."

Have a Treasured Christmas!

Prayer for Generosity

Lord Jesus, teach me to be generous.

Teach me to serve as you deserve,

To give and not to count the cost,

To fight and not to heed the wounds,

To labor and not to seek to rest,

To give of my self and not ask for a reward,

Except the reward of knowing that I am doing your will.

Amen

St. Ignatius of Loyola